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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25248379">second drop</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Michinokao/pseuds/Michinokao'>Michinokao</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender, One Piece</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Reincarnation, Sanji as Zuko</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 05:07:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,121</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25248379</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Michinokao/pseuds/Michinokao</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sanji breathes. There is nothing wrong with him. His hands aren’t shaking, he isn’t craving for a cigarette. He stares at a turtleduck pond and wonders if one can take a look at his unfamiliar golden eyes and see that he’s lying.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sanji &amp; Iroh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>226</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>second drop</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>He’s never thought there would come a time when he’s in this kind of situation again. It feels like a flashback that just doesn’t want to come to an end. It feels like he’s helpless... because he is. Sanji’s twenty-one years old and thirteen at the same time, a paradox that shouldn’t exist.</p><p>A man is towering over him, his mere stare making him shrink to his knees. Not for the first time he wishes for haki but this world doesn’t grant him his wish. This world has taken everything he’s worked for from him and threw it away as if all of his accomplishments meant nothing. As if Sanji’s entire life was for naught.</p><p>And now there is another shitty father who loves to beat up his weakling of a son – yet another ruler of a kingdom, unjustly celebrated by his people. Ozai stares him to the ground and his gaze alone dampens all background noise.</p><p>There’s a hand on Sanji’s face and it grates on his skin like a metal helmet did so long ago. Mockingly gentle it covers the left side of his face. “Suffering will be your teacher.” his second biological failure of a father says with cold eyes and a cold heart.</p><p>Then there’s fire.</p><p>And a scream.</p><p>It’s Sanji’s.</p><p>°°°</p><p>Zuko struggles to breathe. There is nothing wrong with him. His hands aren’t shaking, he isn’t craving for a cigarette. He stares at a turtleduck pond and wonders if one can take a look at his unfamiliar golden eyes and see that he’s lying.</p><p>He’s Zuko. He’s Sanji. He is a prince... no, he <em>was </em>a prince. He’s a pirate.</p><p>Slowly he lets himself sink down until he’s sitting on his knees. His crew is dead – they can’t be alive in this cruel, awful world that’s nothing like the one he’s grown up in during his first life. (Can they?) His dream is gone. There are no Blues only some oceans that aren’t divided by anything, swirling together peacefully.</p><p>Sanji’s – Zuko’s – heart aches. He is alone.</p><p>He is fine. He’s doing alright.</p><p>Sanji thinks he’s dying.</p><p>Zuko’s used to feeling dead.</p><p>°°°</p><p>Iroh has never before grasped just how unusual his nephew is right up until he’s sitting at the child’s side and Zuko’s murmuring in his pain-induced sleep. “No... no, I’m... Captain, where are you? Where are you, Luffy?” he groans and it’s so rough Iroh’s heart aches. Normally, he’d have pegged this as a one-time occurrence and, thus, nothing to worry about. Alas, it’s the sixth night in a row and every single nightmare Zuko has revolves around a pirate crew he’s a part of... was a part of. This is odd, admittedly.</p><p>“No!” Zuko wakes up with a muffled cry. He always does. And he’s used to muffling cries, it seems. A trait undoubtedly instilled into the boy by Ozai.</p><p>“Nephew” Iroh placates gently, putting his hand on the distraught kid’s shoulder. “Everything is alright. We are on the ship, away from the Caldera.” he informs him - the former general doesn’t know what to say. He only knows it’s important to speak to Zuko, let him hear his voice to pull him back to reality.</p><p>“Uncle?” Zuko asks whilst his single not bandaged eye takes in his surroundings. “Uncle” he repeats and it doesn’t sound like a question any longer but like a statement. Iroh nods slowly as to not startle the teenager. Zuko isn’t great with fast movements – he always ducks as if waiting for a blow. Iroh knows the implications of that (although he doesn’t want to think about them... he usually fails) and it doesn’t paint a pretty picture. He’s suspected his brother might be handling his children with less than ideal care but he’d never have thought... then again, it had been less of a shock than he would have liked it to be when Ozai’s flames had burnt prince Zuko’s face.</p><p>“I’m here” the old man reaffirms, massaging the taut muscles of his nephew’s shoulder.</p><p>“I thought...” the banished prince starts, fails, closes his mouth. His whole body sags under Iroh’s soothing rubs. Zuko stares at the hands in his lap, flexes his fingers experimentally.</p><p>“You thought...?” Iroh tries.</p><p>A whisper: “I thought I were back with <em>them</em>”  </p><p>“With your... crew?”</p><p>Zuko flinches. His hoarse voice sends shivers down Iroh’s spine when his nephew says: “They’re gone. They’re <em>gone</em>.” There is more grief in those words than in any he’s ever heard before. It hurts to hear them coming from someone so young. The spirit world is a cruel realm, Iroh thinks. Ozai would have dismissed those claims as the mutterings of a madman.</p><p>Iroh is not like his brother.</p><p>°°°</p><p>Someone once asked him: “What is your dream?”</p><p>Back then, the answer was clear.</p><p>°°°</p><p>“What do you plan on doing, pri... Zuko?” The poor child winces at the unsaid word. Prince. Zuko, apparently, doesn’t mind the banishment itself. Zuko minds being called a prince. Zuko minds being treated like royalty. Iroh has never seen a more humble teenager in his lifetime.</p><p>There are a lot of things he doesn’t know about his nephew. So when the boy says, instead of the expected phrase of <em>I want to catch the Avatar</em>, that he wants to, first of all, make tea... it’s a pleasant surprise, to say the least.</p><p>Afterwards, when they both cradle their respective cups, Zuko answers the inquiry seriously: “I want to open up a restaurant... on the sea.”</p><p>Iroh takes a sip. It’s the most delicious tea he’s ever tasted. And he thinks they might go ahead and do just that. What will they call this restaurant, though? The <em>Jasmine Dragon</em>? Well, it’s Zuko’s idea. He will probably have a name in mind already.</p><p>°°°</p><p>“The <em>Baratie</em>?” a female voice breathes.</p><p>“How did he even get away with calling it that?” another one, male this time, asks.</p><p>“Shishishi! Let’s look if we can find a cook!” an airbender, the last of his kind, broadly grins, ushering them all inside the metal (obviously Fire Nation) ship.</p><p>There are a couple of guests who turn their heads at the odd trio. Of course, they don’t look like your usual bunch of kids. First of all there’s the boy with fuzzy black hair and odd tattoos. His straw hat seems so out of place that some of the guests raise their eyebrows. Then there’s the girl who’s equipped with an odd staff-like weapon at her hips and her brother, it seems, who has a large slingshot hanging from his shoulders.</p><p>Zuko turns around to greet the newcomers.</p><p>He halts in his tracks.</p><p>"Hey, I'm Aang and I'm gonna be King of the Pirates - whoops! I mean, uh... King of the Avatars!"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i wrote a tumblr post about this and then i was like "yeah, gonna write smth quick about that" hope u like it!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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